In this era of calorie consciousness in which many consumers are interested in reducing their calorie intake, particularly their fat intake, without reducing their food consumption, there is a need for reduced calorie food ingredients that provide bulk, but few, if any, calories. These bulking aids can be incorporated into specific foods to replace or otherwise reduce the amount of fat and/or other calorie source that would normally have been present in the food. Typically, although not always, these bulking aids preserve the texture of the food and the mouthfeel of the food and preferably enhance either the functionality of other food ingredients or the efficiency of the process of forming the foods.
Cellulose is one such material that has historically served as a functional formulary aid in a wide range of food applications. The use of cellulose as a non-nutritive bulking agent in food systems, especially in nonaqueous food systems, is limited by several characteristics of cellulose. These include an inherent chalky or other disagreeable taste, especially at high use levels; difficulty in forming a dispersion, which adversely affects its mouth feel; and an adverse affect on texture or consistency.
The traditional approach to overcoming these limitations has been to coat the particulate cellulose with carboxymethyl cellulose, with a gum such as guar gum, or with some other hydrocolloid. Such coatings work with various degrees of effectiveness in aqueous systems; however, they do not tend to work well in systems containing little or no water.
This invention is directed to a novel particulate cellulose composite that is dispersible in a low moisture or in a non-aqueous system, such as chocolate. The composite can be designed, if desired, to provide good texture and/or to avoid the chalky taste of cellulose. It can serve as a bulking agent or it can be used to provide functionality